scholarly journals Coping with cannabis in a Caribbean country : from problem formulation to going public

1998 ◽  
Vol 72 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 205-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hymie Rubenstein

Analyzes the dialectic between problem discovery and formulation, ethical considerations, and the public dissemination of research results. Author describes his personal experience of fieldwork, the moral-ethical dilemmas it involved, and the circulation of research findings on cannabis production and consumption in St. Vincent. He became frustrated that his academic publications were only accessible to a tiny portion of St. Vincent's population and therefore decided to publish about cannabis in the local media.

Author(s):  
Julie M. Robillard ◽  
Emily Wight

Neuroscience communication is at a turning point, with tremendous opportunity for growth and democratization. The rise of the web and social media as platforms for dissemination of research findings and stakeholder engagement presents both unique opportunities and critical ethical considerations. Online- and mobile-based information and services for brain health may enhance the autonomy of users in health decision-making. However, nonadherence to ethical norms, such as informed consent and conflict of interest by digital content creators, may lead to harm. The challenges of communicating neuroscience in the digital era will require the rejection of the traditional top-down dissemination of research findings by the science community. Communicators must embrace participatory communication models, frame science in non-sensationalized, lay-friendly terms, improve the ethics of online resources and web users’ ability to assess the quality of information and source material, and educate scientists in the importance of transparency and public engagement.


Author(s):  
Donna Baines ◽  
Rachel Gnanayutham

Knowledge mobilization (KM) or knowledge translation (KT) involves the dissemination of research findings to diverse audiences. This chapter reflects on the challenges of KM when impacts are likely to be diffuse, nonlinear, far-reaching and long-term, such as shifting public discourse and government priorities, rather than small, immediate, easily measured, technical impacts. Drawing on one of the project’s knowledge transfer initiatives known as the bookette (a short, accessible, multiformat book and book launches aimed at the public, media, and policymakers), the chapter argues that this strategy put findings into a range of people’s hands quickly, while leaving room for further KM activities as the project continued. The chapter considers the importance of team-based research and KM as research activities that extend and deepen the capacity of researchers, research partners, and the community to pursue social change. Strengths and challenges of team-based rapid ethnography are discussed in light of these challenges.


2010 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 387-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wilkinson ◽  
Mike Thelwall

There are many personal and social issues that are rarely discussed in public and hence are difficult to study. Recently, however, the huge uptake of blogs, forums, and social network sites has created spaces in which previously private topics are publicly discussed, giving a new opportunity for researchers investigating such topics. This article describes a range of simple techniques to access personal information relevant to social research questions and illustrates them with small case studies. It also discusses ethical considerations, concluding that the default position is almost the reverse of that for traditional social science research: the text authors should not be asked for consent nor informed of the participation of their texts. Normally, however, steps should be taken to ensure that text authors are anonymous in academic publications even when their texts and identities are already public.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed M. Ahmed ◽  
Mia DeFino ◽  
Emily Connors ◽  
Alexis Visotcky ◽  
Anne Kissack ◽  
...  

IntroductionScience Cafés facilitated by the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin seek to increase health and scientific literacy through informal conversation between researchers and community members. The goal was to understand what factors have the greatest influence on attendees’ perceived changes in health and science literacy levels (PCHSL) to increase impact.MethodsPrevious research established the evaluation used in the Science Cafés to measure PCHSL. In this study, comparisons were made between (1) 2 different approaches to Science Cafés (Genomics Science Cafés or Health Science Cafés) and (2) regression models to show which factors best predicted PCHSL.ResultsThe approach of the Genomics Science Cafés series to Science Cafés showed a larger impact on PCHSL. Regression models suggest SES and education significantly contributes to PCHSL.ConclusionsInsights for program development to have greater impact on PCHSL were identified. Continuing to optimize dissemination of research findings to the public is essential for improving community health and well-being.


2010 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlene Macdonald

The anthropological literature on transplant, though theoretically and ethnographically rich, does not address religion in any substantial way. And while bio-ethical considerations of transplant regularly address religion, treatments are generally circumscribed to a list of various faith traditions and their stance toward organ transplant. Such a presentation reduces “religion” to the world’s recognized faith traditions, “religious actors” to the official spokespersons of these traditions, and “religious belief” to moral injunctions. The objective of the thesis was to illuminate the prominent place of religion in the lived experience of transplant recipients and donors, in the public policy and professional activities of transplant officials, and in the transplant discourses of North America


Author(s):  
Floor Haalboom

This article argues for more extensive attention by environmental historians to the role of agriculture and animals in twentieth-century industrialisation and globalisation. To contribute to this aim, this article focuses on the animal feed that enabled the rise of ‘factory farming’ and its ‘shadow places’, by analysing the history of fishmeal. The article links the story of feeding fish to pigs and chickens in one country in the global north (the Netherlands), to that of fishmeal producing countries in the global south (Peru, Chile and Angola in particular) from 1954 to 1975. Analysis of new source material about fishmeal consumption from this period shows that it saw a shift to fishmeal production in the global south rather than the global north, and a boom and bust in the global supply of fishmeal in general and its use in Dutch pigs and poultry farms in particular. Moreover, in different ways, the ocean, and production and consumption places of fishmeal functioned as shadow places of this commodity. The public health, ecological and social impacts of fishmeal – which were a consequence of its cheapness as a feed ingredient – were largely invisible on the other side of the world, until changes in the marine ecosystem of the Pacific Humboldt Current and the large fishmeal crisis of 1972–1973 suddenly changed this.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takumi Kawashita ◽  
Sara Shu ◽  
Teevit Dunnsiri ◽  
Andrew Fung ◽  
Brian Bui ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND YouTube is a popular American video-sharing platform that has been accessible to the public since 2005. Previous studies have shown that YouTube is potentially beneficial to medical education, but the quality of videos still need to be determined. OBJECTIVE The goal of this study is to understand the quality of the YouTube videos by evaluating the characteristics of physicians and the total number of views on videos regarding fibromyalgia. METHODS The term “fibromyalgia” was searched on the YouTube search engine by relevance, the default setting. Information from the first 100 videos were analyzed. A search was performed on Scopus to determine the h-index and fibromyalgia-related publication for any physician who was featured in the videos. RESULTS Of the top 100 videos, there were 64 academic videos, 18 vlogs, 5 interview videos, and 13 miscellaneous videos. Out of the 64 academic videos, 30 physicians, 7 Doctors of Philosophy (Ph.D.), 5 physical therapists, and 5 chiropractors were identified. The majority physicians have an adequate academic affiliation such as h-index and academic publications. CONCLUSIONS Residents and medical students will encounter a large number of academic videos on fibromyalgia on YouTube. This study suggests that many videos were posted for academic purposes and that the quality of the videos can be ensured to some degree. However, developing a better systemic evaluation of the quality of YouTube content is still necessary.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lang ◽  
Sébastien Lemieux ◽  
Josée Hébert ◽  
Guy Sauvageau ◽  
Ma'n H. Zawati

BACKGROUND Medical care and health research are jointly undergoing significant changes brought about by the Internet [1,2,3]. New online tools, apps, and programs are helping to facilitate unprecedented levels of data sharing and collaboration, potentially enabling more precisely targeted treatment and rapid research translation [4,5,6]. Patient portals have been a significant part of this emerging online health ecosystem, providing patients a mechanism for accessing electronic health records, managing appointments and prescriptions, even communicating directly with care providers [7]. Much has been written about the technical and ethical challenges associated with the development and integration of patient portals into the clinic [8,9]. But portal technology might also be used to connect health researchers to clinicians, patients, and the public. Online systems could be a useful platform for broadly and rapidly disseminating research results while also promoting patient empowerment. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to assess the potential use of online portals that facilitate the sharing of health research findings among researchers, clinicians, patients, and the public. It will also summarize the potential legal, ethical, and policy implications associated with such tools for public use and in the management of patient care for complex disease. METHODS We systematically consulted three databases, PubMed, Scopus, and WestLaw Next for sources describing online portals for sharing health research findings among clinicians, researchers, and patients and their associated legal, ethical, and policy challenges. raised by the integration of online tools into patient care for complex disease. Of 719 source citations, we retained 22 for review. RESULTS We found a varied and inconsistent treatment of online portals for sharing health research findings among clinicians, researchers, and patients. While the literature supports the view that portals of this kind are potentially highly promising, they remain novel and are not yet being widely adopted. We also found a wide-ranging discussion on the legal, ethical, and policy issues related to the use of online tools for sharing research data. We identified five important policy challenges: privacy & confidentiality, health literacy & patient empowerment, equity, training, and decision making. Each of these, we contend, have meaningful implications for the increased integration of online tools into clinical care. CONCLUSIONS As online tools become increasingly important mechanisms for sharing health research with clinicians, patients, and the public, it is vital that these developments are met with ethical and conceptual scrutiny. Therapeutic portals as they are presented in this paper may become a more widespread feature of precision and translational medicine. Our findings suggest that online portals are already being used to disseminate research results among clinicians, patients, and the public. But much of the ethical and conceptual debate is framed in terms of the patient portal, a concept that does not adequately reflect the potentially broader scope of therapeutic portals. It may be useful to clarify this distinction in future research and to underscore the unique ethical, legal, and policy challenges raised when online systems are used as a platform for disseminating research to as wide an audience as possible. CLINICALTRIAL n/a


This volume addresses the relationship between archaeologists and the dead, through the many dimensions of their relationships: in the field (through practical and legal issues), in the lab (through their analysis and interpretation), and in their written, visual and exhibitionary practice--disseminated to a variety of academic and public audiences. Written from a variety of perspectives, its authors address the experience, effect, ethical considerations, and cultural politics of working with mortuary archaeology. Whilst some papers reflect institutional or organizational approaches, others are more personal in their view: creating exciting and frank insights into contemporary issues that have hitherto often remained "unspoken" among the discipline. Reframing funerary archaeologists as "death-workers" of a kind, the contributors reflect on their own experience to provide both guidance and inspiration to future practitioners, arguing strongly that we have a central role to play in engaging the public with themes of mortality and commemoration, through the lens of the past. Spurred by the recent debates in the UK, papers from Scandinavia, Austria, Italy, the US, and the mid-Atlantic, frame these issues within a much wider international context that highlights the importance of cultural and historical context in which this work takes place.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 272
Author(s):  
Aaron C. Sparks ◽  
Heather Hodges ◽  
Sarah Oliver ◽  
Eric R. A. N. Smith

In many public policy areas, such as climate change, news media reports about scientific research play an important role. In presenting their research, scientists are providing guidance to the public regarding public policy choices. How do people decide which scientists and scientific claims to believe? This is a question we address by drawing on the psychology of persuasion. We propose the hypothesis that people are more likely to believe local scientists than national or international scientists. We test this hypothesis with an experiment embedded in a national Internet survey. Our experiment yielded null findings, showing that people do not discount or ignore research findings on climate change if they come from Europe instead of Washington-based scientists or a leading university in a respondent’s home state. This reinforces evidence that climate change beliefs are relatively stable, based on party affiliation, and not malleable based on the source of the scientific report.


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